CAS Connection CAS Spotlights archive

CREATIVE WRITING — For Morgan Thomas MFA ’16 (fiction), a future in writing was not always the plan. Their journey from curious storyteller to nationally recognized author demonstrates how creativity can grow through hard work and community.

ANTHROPOLOGY - Theresa Gildner’s research in the Amazon as a doctoral student in anthropology led to publications and experience in conducting ethical field research. She continues that work as a Washington University faculty member.

SPANISH - College of Arts and Sciences alum Brandon Rigby enjoyed studying Spanish, but it wasn’t until a professor suggested he major in it that he dove in. With multiple overseas assignments under his belt, he is now a global diplomat for the U.S. Department of State.

CINEMA STUDIES - Cinema studies professor Masami Kawai is set to begin production on her first feature film, “Valley of the Tall Grass,” in Eugene in summer 2026. It is both a personal journey and a community-centered story.

PHYSICS - An assistant professor of physics at the University of Oregon College of Arts and Sciences, Nguyen has been named the 2025 recipient of the American Physical Society’s (APS) Maria Goeppert Mayer Award. Named after a German American theoretical physicist who was co-awarded the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physics, this award honors exceptional achievement by a woman physicist in the early years of her career.

POLITICAL SCIENCE - Sarah Koski graduated with a degree in political science in 2006 from the University of Oregon College of Arts and Sciences and Robert D. Clark Honors College. To find her purpose and mission, Koski first had to break up with the notion that all success is a high-powered executive job. Now a community resource liaison for Lane Transit District, Koski works to help people feel seen and heard, and to make real change in the unhoused community.

COMPUTER SCIENCE, MATHEMATICS - When Fedi Aniefuna arrived at the University of Oregon, he still hadn’t decided whether he wanted to major in political science and go to law school, or study computer science and head straight into the workforce. Five years later, he’s beginning his second year as an engineer with Amazon Web Services after spending his time at the UO studying math and computer science.

CINEMA STUDIES, EAST ASIAN STUDIES — For Natalie Jacobsen explored multiple majors before landing on cinema studies and media history. That well-rounded education took her across the globe and to her current position as director of marketing and communications at Airlink, a humanitarian aviation nonprofit. She is also a published novelist.

COMICS AND CARTOON STUDIES, DISABILITY STUDIES, ENGLISH - What makes the comic book villain the Joker such a popular antagonist for Batman? It’s one of many questions Professor Elizabeth Wheeler examines in her latest research paper, “The Joker’s Shifting Face: Eighty Years of Mad History in Batman and American Culture.”